Minnesinger (Ger.). ‘Singer(s) of love’. Ger. equivalent of troubadours, flourishing in 12th-and 13th-cent. guilds. Mainly of aristocratic orig. in contrast to Meistersinger who were of merchant class. Among the most celebrated Minnesinger were Walther von der Vogelweide (d 1230), Neidhardt von Reuenthal (c.1180–1240), Heinrich von Meissen (Frauenlob, d 1318), Hermann, the Monk of Salzburg (c.1350–1410), and Oswald von Wolkenstein (c.1377–1445). Wagner's Tannhäuser and Strauss's Guntram are operas dealing with the Minnesinger class.

minnesingers Medieval German poets or singers of courtly love (or minne), similar in style to the Provençal troubadours whom they originally copied. An individual German style developed in the 14th century, several of the poems are considered among the best of Middle High German lyric verse.

Minnesinger a German lyric poet and singer of the 12th–14th centuries, who performed songs of courtly love. The name comes (in the early 19th century) from German Minnesinger ‘love-singer’.